Suit against Jerseyville McDonald’s, CNB Bank, moved

Published 3:15 pm, Thursday, June 4, 2015

JERSEYVILLE — A lawsuit claiming a woman’s Social Security benefits were terminated as a result of her former boss’s check fraud scheme has been moved from Madison to Jersey County.

In the suit filed in August, Lora Benson, of Carrollton, named Theresa Bryan, CNB Bank, and GMJ, Inc., the operators of a McDonald’s restaurant in Jerseyville, where Bryan used Benson’s social security number to write herself fraudulent payroll checks.

She is asking for at least $100,000 from each defendant because the fraudulent activity cost her her social security benefits, her home and caused her to be turned over to collection agencies, causing emotional distress.

The social security administration canceled Benson’s $1,513 monthly benefit because the fraudulent payroll checks went on federal records as unreported income. Bryan pleaded guilty on March 14, 2013, to a charge of theft after being accused of using the phony check scheme against four restaurant employees.

According to court records, Madison County Circuit Court Judge William A. Mudge agreed to move proceedings to Jersey County at the request of the litigants, who all live closer to Jerseyville than Edwardsville.

Benson had been receiving social security disability benefits since April 2000. From January to September of 2012, Bryan wrote numerous payroll checks to Benson and other former employees of the McDonald’s which she then cashed at CNB Bank and Trust in Jerseyville. The case was filed in Madison County because CNB does business in Madison County.

In October of 2012, Benson was informed her disability benefits would be terminated because she did not report income associated with her social security number. The unreported income consisted of the checks Bryan wrote in Benson’s name and cashed, the suit claims.